Lesson Six: Be Careful What You Wish For

When House #2 was still on the market after 6 weeks, we decided to submit our offer again in hopes that they would see reason. They did. They met us halfway, meaning that we could purchase House #2 if we wanted to.

Now, I feel a little silly saying this after the amount of time I have spent a) wishing desperately for a house, and b) complaining about Fannie Mae’s unwillingness the negotiate the price of this particular house, but...

We decided to walk away.

At first, there was a moment of thrill -- SOMEONE WANTS TO SELL US A HOUSE! OMG!

But then, we started to actually think about our options. At this point, we basically have two houses to choose between: Dream Home and House #2.

I like to make lists. I spend way more time making lists than doing things that are on my various to-do lists. I just like lists. Dunno why.

So we decided to make pro/con lists.

House #2 Pros and Cons

• Huge. I mean GIANT. More rooms than I know what to do with.
• Built in bar. (Okay, in a few years when we have kids this’ll mean a lot less, but for right now...BUILT IN BAR, PEOPLE!)
• Available now. We could actually leave our crappy apartment.
• Did I mention that it’s huge?
• Big backyard that doesn’t look like a jungle.
• Not so great schools.
• Older, slightly decaying neighborhood.
• Local miscreants like to break windows.
• Requires roughly $10K in renovations right off the bat.
• Potential problems that could be revealed in an inspection.
• Tiny kitchen.
• Less possibility for really good return on investment.

Dream Home Pros and Cons

• Good size, but we’ll grow out of it when we reach 2 kids.
• Very well maintained -- new roof, new furnaces, new A/C, new hot water heater.
• Pretty neighborhood.
• Up and coming location.
• Great schools.
• Needs little to no work to be move in ready.
• Already passed inspection.
• Amazing return on investment potential.
• Backyard looks like a jungle. The entire thing pretty much needs to be bulldozed.
• Financing will be a bit of a headache.
• God only knows when Nationstar will approve the sale. We could reach retirement before closing on this house.

We debated, but it was clear which house we really wanted. We don’t want to buy a house just for the sake of buying a house -- we want to buy a house in order to secure the long-term financial security of our future family. That means buying a house that will give us a great return on our investment. That means House #2 -- and its built in bar -- are out.

I wonder if I could build a bar into the Dream Home? Bet I could...